Confessions of an Implementer: S2E28

Letting Go To Grow: Empowered Teams Build Better Businesses with Sonya Jury
Date: December 24, 2025
Guest: Sonya Jury (EOS Implementer, former architect)
Host: Ryan Hogan

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Ryan Hogan sits down with Sonya Jury, whose unconventional leap from decades in architecture to EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) implementation provides rich, practical lessons for growing and empowering teams. Through personal stories, industry anecdotes, and hands-on advice, Sonya shares how the principles of trust, collaboration, and letting go—as learned in both architecture and business—are essential to building scalable companies. The conversation is filled with concrete examples, candid confessions about career pivots, and memorable analogies that apply EOS in vivid, relatable ways.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Sonya’s Journey from Architecture to EOS

• Creative Beginnings ([01:18])
  • Sonya’s love for building—including childhood Lincoln Logs and knockoff Legos—sparked creativity early on.
  • She resisted the business world’s “sad and depressing” feel, embracing architecture for its blend of creativity and science.
• Architecture as Orchestration ([04:48])
  • Architecture blends engineering, creativity, and facilitation:
    "It’s a world where everything comes together beautifully… kind of like a conductor orchestrating all of these different things." – Sonya Jury [06:49]
• Continuous Learning and Problem-Solving ([06:57])
  • Sonya's approach: seek out new challenges, volunteer for complex assignments, remain a “sponge.”
  • Stories of demystifying healthcare design—making spaces that soothe patients—highlight empathy and client focus.
• Notable Projects: Highs and Lows ([09:46])
  • Best Experience: Building a 20-year Vegas restaurant where everyone “went above and beyond”—lasting twice the industry’s typical lifespan ([10:10]).
  • Worst Experience: Toxic blame culture, finger-pointing, and poor collaboration ([13:44]): "Oh my God, can we just all work together? ... That's the part of architecture I didn't enjoy." – Sonya Jury [13:44]

The Career Pivot: From Architect to EOS Implementer

• The Push to EOS ([15:52])

  • After being let go, Sonya describes her reaction: “I just got this big grin on my face and I said, ‘I’m going to do EOS now. This is the push, the nudge, whatever you want to call it, that I’m going to go do EOS.’” – Sonya Jury [16:49]
  • Support from her husband and the timing of family need dovetailed with her pursuit of a new mission.

• Letting Go Is a Gift ([20:27])

  • Host Ryan connects firing, though tough, as being “a gift for both the organization and that person,” applauding Sonya’s perspective.

• Advice: When a Colleague Gets Let Go ([21:30])

  • “Don’t be silent when someone does get let go. Just reach out. How are you doing mentally, emotionally? ... Be a human, I guess, is what I’m trying to say.” – Sonya Jury [22:30]

Building a Book of Business and Empowered Teams

• Starting from Scratch ([24:34])

  • Day one means phone calls, massive networking, handing out EOS books—educating her community.
  • Reflection: Had she known about EOS earlier, her own architecture business could have thrived longer.

• Vision Mismatch ([27:16])

  • Sonya regrets not having earlier, intentional conversations about differing visions with her business partner: "Oh my gosh, how young and dumb... of not talking and having the tough conversation about what he wanted and what I wanted." – Sonya Jury [27:16]

Resolving Conflict and Building Healthy Leadership Teams

• Reconciling Different Visions ([28:23])
  • Yes, differing visions can be reconciled—but with time, “lots of conversations,” and understanding individual working styles.

Assessments as Tools ([28:47])

• Sonya and Ryan discuss Kolbe scores and how knowing team members’ cognitive strengths can defuse conflicts, foster empathy, and enable collaboration.

Facilitation Techniques for Productive Conflict ([32:59])

• Sonya’s tip for managing high-energy team members: “Hey, can we take a pause? Because the rest of us have to catch up with you.” – Sonya Jury [32:59]
• Conflict, when harnessed with understanding (“blameless discernment”), yields breakthroughs.

Making Conflict Constructive ([37:12])

• Props and Practical Language:
  Sonya uses session “props” (the elephant, the sacred cow, the honesty pig, the squirrel) to name and normalize tough issues:
  • “There’s an elephant in the room, folks, and we need to talk about it. ... My favorite one is the honesty pig... [which] is going to look you in the eye and tell you what is what.” – Sonya Jury [37:40]
• Facilitators’ job is not to "rip your company apart," but to help reveal the hard truths teams already know and give them confidence to act ([41:01]).

The “Right Person, Right Seat” Challenge ([41:01])

• It takes self-awareness and organizational humility for someone to step down from a seat they no longer GWC (Get it, Want it, Capacity for it).
• Sonya cites examples where a founder or owner found fulfillment (and business growth) after shifting to a non-SLT (senior leadership team) seat: “It’s a lot of self-awareness. ... Am I the right person to sit in this seat? ... Do I want it because I really want it ... or because I’ve been here for so long? Two different things.” – Sonya Jury [44:31]

Patterns in EOS Implementation: The Hardest Parts ([49:08])

• Where Do Teams Get Stuck?
  • Frequently, the visionary/founder struggles most—concerned EOS will contain their creativity or autonomy.
  • Underneath, resistance often comes down to discomfort with accountability, not EOS itself. “A lot of times when people are giving me the Heisman … what we find out … they just don’t want to be held accountable.” – Sonya Jury [49:28]

Empowerment as the Heart of Growth ([51:22], [53:48])

• Sonya’s Niche:

  • She thrives with creative industries (A/E/C, manufacturing, marketing, restaurants), but her principles are universal. Gridlock is common when leaders become bottlenecks.

• Letting Go and Trusting Teams:

  • “You’ve got to let go of the vine. You’ve got to trust and empower. ... I trust you. I empower you to go forth and do your job.” – Sonya Jury ([00:00], [51:22])

• Empowerment Metaphor: ([53:48])

  • Leaders need to avoid having “everybody giving you their monkeys”—problems that should be solved by others. Instead, create a culture where others are empowered to solve issues.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [00:00]: "As an entrepreneur, you're wearing all these different hats to grow the business, but then at a certain point, you are wearing way too many hats and you become the bottleneck. So now you've got to let go." – Sonya Jury
• [16:49]: "I just got this big grin on my face and I said, 'I'm going to do EOS now. This is the push, the nudge...'" – Sonya Jury
• [21:30]: "Don't be silent when someone does get let go. You know, just reach out. How are you doing mentally, emotionally? Is there anything I can help you with? Be a human, I guess, is what I'm trying to say." – Sonya Jury
• [32:59]: “Hey, can we take a pause? Because the rest of us have to catch up with you.” – Sonya Jury
• [37:40]: “There's an elephant in the room, folks, and we need to talk about it.” – Sonya Jury
• [44:31]: "Am I the right person to sit in this seat? Do I want it because I really want it, I have a fire in my belly or do I want it because I think that I've earned it because I've been here for so long?" – Sonya Jury
• [49:28]: "A lot of times ... they just don't want to be held accountable. And that's then the root issue." – Sonya Jury

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:18] – Sonya’s creative upbringing and entry into architecture
• [04:48] – Architecture as orchestration; blending disciplines
• [09:46] – Standout projects and lessons from success and failure
• [15:52] – Career pivot: Letting go and embracing EOS
• [20:27] – Handling tough conversations; letting go as a gift
• [24:34] – Building an EOS practice from scratch
• [27:16] – The consequences of not aligning on vision
• [28:23] – Reconciling conflicting visions within leadership
• [32:59] – Strategies for balancing different working styles
• [37:12] – Props and language for normalizing conflict
• [41:01] – Addressing right person/right seat issues
• [44:31] – Self-awareness and ego: examples of moving seats gracefully
• [49:28] – Visionary resistance as the main EOS stumbling block
• [51:22]/[53:48] – Sonya’s client niche; the importance of empowerment

How to Find Sonya Jury

• LinkedIn
• Email: sonya.jury@eosworldwide.com
• EOS Microsite / Business Sherpa Site (Search: "Sonya Jury EOS" for details)

Summary in a Sentence:
Sonya Jury’s story is a testament to the power of letting go, the necessity of self-awareness, and the exponential growth unlocked when leaders empower their teams—transforming both architecture projects and businesses through trust, candor, and the EOS framework.